Last week 73 inventors from around the world – including Finland – gathered at the annual Response Expo trade fair held at the Bayfront Hilton in San Diego to present their products to the marketing people. They hoped to get their innovations to the consumer market. Only one out of ten ideas succeeds.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office receives over half a million patent applications a year. Approximately 300,000 are accepted.

-Many of the handles for carry-on luggage are short enough to cause lower back pain. Also, you have to turn your wrist around, so that your wrist is facing forward, which is not an ergonomic position. It can create muscle fatigue, carpal tunnel, arthritis, etc.

Inventor Larry Moad and his Larry Moad and his T-Bone Luggage Handle Extension

With his handle the bag is pulled like a garden hose. The idea came to him at an airport cafe.

-I was between flights. I had lower back pain, because I had walked this long concourse with my bag. I was in a café and watching all the people walk by. One guy who stood as tall as I, had a bag similar to mine with wheels. He was carrying it under his arm like a briefcase. I thought he is having the same problem as I. They just don’t make those handles long enough, I thought. Then I looked over to the cash line. There was an older woman who was waiting for her sandwich. Her handle was extended, but she was rubbing her forearm like she has discomfort from pulling her bag, the inventor recalls.

There and then Larry outlined the first draft of his invention on a napkin, then chopped it into pieces and put the cutting in two trash cans – just in case.

-I got home, went to the closet, took out a wire hanger, pliers, tin foil, McGuyvered up my first T-Bone. I still have it.

Then the real work began. Over time he designed and finessed the handle, applied for a U.S. patent and hired an engineer to do a three-dimensional CAD drawing of it. That was used to make the mold and out of the mold the actual handles were produced at a workshop in Mission Viejo, California. The process took eight long years and tens of thousands of dollars.

-I have 950 T-Bones in the garage ready to go. Last year I sold 80 and this year 30 handles at a price of $16.95 a piece, Larry says.

He rented a table at the fair with $300 in hopes of finding a niche on the handle. He got lots of media publicity – like an appearance of the local Fox affiliate morning show.

Telebrands founder and CEO A.J. Khubami invented the slogan ” As seen on TV.”

Over the last 30 years Telebrands has sold hundreds of millions worth of products in a hundred countries around the world. They are impulse purchases, goods which the consumer does not even know they needed, such as the collapsing garden hoses and a three-legged walking canes. At the end of each Telebrands commercial the consumer is asked to call a phone number or to order the item online. This selling method is called direct response advertising.

A.J. Khubani founded Telebrands right after college in 1983. The company finds innovative products, manufactures, markets and distributes them in 100 countries world wide. Some of the recent Telebrands successes include the Trusty Cane and the Pocket Hose.

-People who have an invention can submit to *protected email*. We have a staff of people who go through all the ideas, A.J. Khubani tells.

He is a dark-haired man with an air of a high-powered CEO.

-If we like anything, we offer them a license agreement. It’s like a book deal for an author. The inventor is like the author and we are the publisher. We never ask the inventor any money at all. We invest all the money. If the product is successful, we pay them a royalty. A.J. explains.

At any given time one can see 30 to 40 marketing company Mercury Media’s infomercials play on TV channels across America. The company is based in Santa Monica, CA with offices in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Boston

-We do media placement with direct response commercials and infomercials on TV. We get a lot of inventors knocking on our door – we probably talk to an inventor once a week, Mercury Media CEO Dan Danielson says.

His company builds an advertising campaign around the product.

-Some inventors have money, some don’t. So, we help them either to find money or with the resources we have, use their money wisely, create an infomercial, figure out what TV station to put it on, work with the telemarketers, credit card processing, creating a website and all the digital marketing that goes on as well.

Danielson’s main job is to decide whether an invention has commercial potential.

-That’s the biggest decision we have to make. It’s a very expensive business to get into. So, if it’s not a product that is suited for TV, we tell them to go do print, radio, internet, multi-level marketing. We direct them to another channel of marketing, if it doesn’t meet the basic criteria of TV.

In order to meet the demands of TV, the product must answer “yes” to the following questions:

-Does the product appeal to a mass audience?

-Does it have a good enough cost –selling margin?

-Has there been success in that genre?

If a product retails for $30 or less, Danielson will sell it with a 1-2 minute TV commercial. If it’s more expensive than that, a half an hour infomercial is required. A commercial costs $100,000 and an infomercial $200,000 to make.

The Multi-Function Glove is for people, such as open market vendors, who want to be able to write down anything quickly. It combines a glove, a pen and a notepad.

Director Jessica Delich from the United Inventors Association advises inventors to do their homework before investing their life savings to the invention.

– Make a Google Patents search to find out if someone else has already come up with the same product. Patent the invention. Do not fall in love with your idea, but ask people what would you change to make it even better. And do not ask for it from your mother, who thinks that everything you touch is as good as sliced ​​bread.

-A good invention has to solve a problem that a lot of people have – a common problem. So, that when you are running media on it, people relate to it immediately.

Inventors should check the United Inventors Association website www.uiausa.org for useful tips.

The Fly Swoop – captures flies without killing them. Once you have caught them, you can release them back to the great outdoors.

Raymond Thomas from New Jersey was trying to sell his invention, the Trunk Savior – a rack to hang your shopping bags in the car trunk. The idea came to him from his own life.

-My wife and I do fresh juicing – vegetables, fruits. They come in a lot of shopping bags. I have a sedan. When we put it in the trunk, by the time we get home, the potatoes and watermelons are all over the place, so you have to dive in the trunk to get them, Raymond explains.

The Trunk Savior installs in the ceiling of your trunk. The hooks bend behind as not to obstruct the trunk space.

-With my product you can wear your shoes and be comfortable all day. Bandaid is our worst competitor but it only works on the friction part and doesn’t take away the pain. Comfytape is clear and reusable – you get 4-8 uses out of it. It also works on different parts of the foot, Kathryne tells.

Hanger Station promises to keep your clothes on the door and off the floor.

-It’s for or wet, just ironed clothes, or when you are staging an outfit or packing or don’t have a closet. The product is a strip of plastic. Each strip holds 8 articles of clothing. You take off the adhesive tape and stick the strip over your door and you can hang hangers, inventor Mike Owens clarifies.

Wine maker Stephen Sublett from the British Columbia came up with the Ultimate Box Clip. The little plastic clips easily seal and subsequently open any cardboard box.

-One day I was bottling my wine at home and wanted to close the cardboard flaps. I got frustrated tugging the corners in and thought there’s gotta be a better solution. I pondered it for 15 minutes and came up with a simple design.

Christine Charpentier from the bayous of Louisiana became an inventor out of necessity.

-I have a daughter who got poison in her baby milk when she was five months old. She is 35 now. I still have a 160,000 dollar hospital bill left. I’ve been paying it off 100 dollars a month for all these years, Christine reveals.

She invented Microwave Pot Holders – cotton mittens that you can heat your microwave food without burning them. The secret is the material in between the layers, which Christine won’t reveal. She sells them for $20. That gets you a assortment of three pot holders in different sizes.

Andrew Yaros’ Trio is a combination of two bathroom fixtures. He is looking to get a retail licensing deal for his brainchild.

-It’s a toilet paper and disposable wipe dispenser. You put it in a regular toilet paper mount, Andrew explains.

However, you can’t just use any old wipes – only three companies make biodegradable wipes that you can flush down the toilet, one of them being the Finnish Suominen Company, whose wipes Yaros uses in his dispenser.

Ryo Masukawa introduced the CordRite – a sleeve to keep all your electric cords in order.

-I was looking at the mess of my cords. I wanted to make it safer for people so that they don’t trip over cords.

CordRite offers different size sleeves for different size cords. They proved to be useful and easy to install in test use. The product is available at Amazon.

Lunch Sense neatly packs your lunch in a small bag.

Many inventors have tinkered with kitchen items. Lunch Sense organizes food items in plastic boxes that fit neatly in a cube-shaped box. Lid Gripper is a tool to open tight lids.

Handle It – provides a quick to install handle to any bottle.

Handle It provides an easy-to-pour handle to any plastic bottle. Calendar Sponge relies on the idea that the sponge is the dirtiest thing in your kitchen and nobody knows when to change it. Experts agree it should be changed every month, so the way to know when to change it is to write the name of each month to the side of the sponge. Thus a 12-pack covers your full year.

Norman Strohdach and the Cats of Thrones

Norman Strohdach’s eureka moment was to invent Cats of Thrones – a $75 system to train your can to use a human toilet.

-It teaches a cat how to use a toilet in an average of 3-5 weeks. You start with a full litter box and gradually train the cat in the six step system. In the final stage you only have a seat for the cat – a small platform without sand, you don’t share the seat with the cat. We tested this on 1300 cats and we have 100% success rate, Norman beams.

Antti Leppäkorpi introduced his StemMate weed guard. You place it around a newly planted tree to prevent weeds from growing around it.

Antti Leppäkorpi from Jyväskylä, Finland traveled all the way to San Diego to try to distribute his invention, the StemMate weed guard to the American market.

-StemMate prevents the growth of weeds or grass on the base of the tree. When you plant a tree, you put StemMate around the tree. When the tree grows, it will grow along with it and finally breaks down. It does not kill the tree, Antti says.

The product has been tested in cold and snowy Finnish winters. Antti is selling the StemMate for $20 a piece. You can order yours by writing to: *protected email*

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Jari Juntunen has worked at Nokia’s San Diego R&D for the past two years.

Jari Juntunen, 48, has worked at Nokia virtually his entire professional career – 21 years. The last two years he has been working at Nokia’s San Diego Research and Development Center. Along with his wife Agneta and a nine-year-old son Daniel, the family has made their home in “America’s finest city”.

Now that Microsoft has bought Nokia’s cell phone functions for 7.2 billion dollars (5.4 B euros), Finntimes went to San Diego to ask Jari Juntunen, what he thinks of the deal and how it affects Nokia.

Jari Juntunen’s job description is test manager. His team of about 30 people test out new cell phone apps.

-Many people here read Finnish newspapers, like Kauppalehti and Taloussanomat. All kinds of coffee table conversations have been swirling around for quite some time now, Juntunen acknowledges.

Nokia Research and Development Center in San Diego

A lot is on the line. We are sitting at an outdoor patio of a German coffee shop. At the next table there is a group of Romanians, who have come to work at Nokia’s San Diego R&D Center, having previously worked for the cell phone maker in Finland. Juntunen estimates that people of at least 30 different nationalities work for Nokia here. Among them are some one hundred Finns. Their very livelihood was put to question as Nokia’s fortunes fell.

-We heard the news about the Microsoft deal simultaneously with everybody else. All of a sudden my calendar was filled with different in-house information conferences. They basically told us the same things that had already been stated in press releases.

-The message was that there was an offer to buy Nokia from Microsoft that was accepted. Then, they explained how the regulatory approvals will go and what will happen during the time before the authorities are expected to deliver an opinion. We will continue as before, and so will the design work, the engineer tells.

Juntunen is happy about the Microsoft deal.

There were no Microsoft people at these briefings, nor was there any talk of lay-offs. The mood among the Nokia employees was upbeat.

-I would say that more than 90 per cent of employees were in a very positive mood. This was a very good outcome, if you compare options. We were aware of the cash situation of the company and the fact that there wouldn’t be enough money indefinitely. There was a limited amount of money to invest. And, unfortunately, it was also evident in the phase the Lumia products have spread. Now, we got together with a company that has money. Hopefully, the result is that the Lumia ecosystem will grow and spread further, Jari Juntunen opines.

Juntunen is optimistic about the future.

-I see a lot more positive than negative things . When you have been with the firm for more than 20 years, you’ve seen ups and downs. For me personally the discontinuation of the Symbian operating system three years ago was a bigger shock than this. We’ve been working with Microsoft for about the same time now – three years. Our collaboration has steadily improved. By know we know how each partner operates. Now that we are one and the same company, we can talk freely about everything without certain bureaucracies.

How about possible lay-offs to eliminate duplicate positions between Microsoft and Nokia?

-I see this thing the other way around . Microsoft has always been a software house. I think that people at Microsoft are more confused than us at Nokia. Microsoft has now purchased the knowledge of what Nokia has to offer. The deal comes with hardware know-how and phone factories. They are totally new things to Microsoft. Press statements have told who will be the leaders of a new unit. Joe Harlow and Stephen Elop will continue. Microsoft will probably move people to the new unit. So I think that the confusion is greater there than on our side.

According to Juntunen, this is an unusual business deal.

-This is going to be exceptional to the normal transaction. The fact that the big chiefs from Nokia will continue and not be replaced by Microsoft people, I think, is a clear message that Microsoft has admitted that Nokia can make good cell phones. They don’t want to mess that up. Barricades have been removed and now we will be making phones faster and better.

Juntunen has worked his whole life in the phone business. On his spare time he likes to play golf.

There is also a question of work visas, on which most foreign-born Nokia employees work in the U.S. – what will happen to these employees, including Jari Juntunen himself, when Nokia no longer is their employer but Microsoft?

-Our green card process is so far along that I think I will have it in my hand before the authorities approve this trade. Thus, the visa thing is not to touch me personally. There is no certainty yet how the immigration officials will see this. Since all the functions of the unit will move to another company, Microsoft, the most likely scenario is that the visas would follow along with it.

Juntunen is eager to continue working under the new employer.

– Of course it is a bit bittersweet to lose the Nokia name. After the completion of my studies, with the exception of a few internships, I have worked my whole life at Nokia. The company is familiar and so are the people. But I love the phone sector. It is a fast -paced business that never stops. I like it. If my contract continues, such as the higher-ups are saying, I see no reason why I should get into something else.

San Diego is a home to thousands of Finns. Many were brought there by Nokia. Now that the cell phone maker is no longer headquartered in Finland, will this stream of Finns to San Diego come to the end?

-I don’t think so. It has been stated clearly that the core functions of the phone business will remain here. San Diego is going to continue as one hub, even if the sign on the roof will change. Also in Finland, the R & D centers remain. I do not see any reason why the flow of Finns to San Diego should peter out.

NOKIA FINNS OF SAN DIEGO

Who are these rather insular people? A typical Nokia employee in San Diego is an IT engineer. He is a male in his 30’s or 40’s with a Finnish wife and two small children. The family usually owns a large, comfortable house in the San Diego suburbs, such as Escondido, Poway, Rancho Bernardo or Rancho Peñasquitos. The mother, who oftentimes herself is highly educated and was working in Finland, typically finds herself at home with small children in San Diego. She is instrumental in looking after them, driving them to school, hobbies, etc. There is not a whole lot of cultural or other “city” activities in these sleepy, far-flung suburbs, only houses, strip-malls and business parks. Typically all kinds of exercising is on top of their agenda. These elite Finns’ immigrant experience differs greatly from previous generations and the vast majority of today’s immigrants. The Nokia Finns start out with H-1B-visas (exceptional ability), arranged trough the company attorneys. Later on they will become eligible to receive a green card and citizenship. There is hardly any financial hardship, since the Nokia employees enjoy ample salaries and perks. However, that doesn’t help them assimilate into the American society any faster than anyone else. At least in the beginning, these newcomers tend to stick to other Nokia Finns and organize activities together. They also spend long vacation times in Finland, which prolongs the assimilation process into the American society. Eventually most Nokia Finns end up staying permanently in the United States.

Jari Juntunen chats with other dads while waiting for his son at Rancho Bernardo Suomi-Koulu (Finnish school).

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PÄIVI AND SANTERI: MODERN DAY NOMADS
REPORTER: TOMI HINKKANEN
PICTURES PROVIDED BY PÄIVI AND SANTERI

Päivi and Santeri Kannisto were a well-to-do Finnish couple with all the trappings of a successful life – both well educated with a nice house and great careers. But seven years ago they got tired of the rat race, sold all their worldly possessions and set out to tour the world – permanently.

Q. Talk about your life in Finland when you were still ”normal”,working career people?

Santeri had an open source software house for some 12 years and Päivi
worked as a Management Consultant.

Q. It seems that both of you had found your vocation. You had aninteresting careers that no doubt paid quite well. What are thereasons why you grew tired of that kind of a standard western life?

Those careers were what others expected us to do, not what we wanted
from our lives. Päivi wanted to travel and Santeri wanted to devote
his life for love and get rid of possessions.

Q. You allowed three months to prepare for your new nomadic lifestyle. Lift that curtain a little – what did you do with taxation,property and how much savings did you take with you?

We finance our travelling by writing books. Our income is modest but
we consume very little nowadays. Our average total monthly spending
varies between US 400-700$. The taxation keeps on taxing no matter if
they have the right to do it any longer or not. Our income is too low
for any country to tax and most of it consists of tax free grants.

Päivi sold her property and Santeri walked out of his life leaving
everything behind. Santeri’s possessions ended up mostly to the
pockets of lawyers fighting for what was left.

Q. The United States and Finland are both expensive countries – everytime you leave your house, you spend money on gas, food, shopping,etc. What kind of a daily budget do you normally have – how much isspent of food, lodging, transportation, etc. and do you select thecountries you go to based on the costs?

We buy fruits and vegetables (we are vegans) and cook ourselves. We
walk distances under 10 miles and use the cheapest public
transportation available for longer distances, and use Couch Surfing.
If we stay around in a place for a bit longer, we rent a small
room/apartment and often help the landlord to decrease the rent by
doing renovation work, installing electricity, fixing things,
painting, etc.

Our living costs have varied very little between countries and
continents. We don’t buy stuff except the bare minimum such as clothes
and shoes, and laptops for writing. There is enough pollution in the
world without us increasing it by consuming products and services.

Working in the traditional sense of the word and possessing cars and
real estate are the most expensive things in life. We don’t do any of
them. We have no need to show off with possessions.

Q. What kind of cultural differences and barriers have you run into?

In Finland people take shoes off when they enter someone’s house. We
do that, too. Sometimes it has been hard to convince people from other
cultures to do the same when they come to our place.

Q. You have said that some countries have been pleasant and some lesspleasant surprises – tell us a little of both – which countries haveyou liked, which not and why?

We like countries that allow free debate and do not condemn
differences in opinion. We avoid countries that believe they can make
peace by killing people or countries that support or participate in
such activities. For us, there is no acceptable excuse in taking any
life, human or animal. We are all one. If you hurt others, you end up
hurting yourself.

Q. I bet you have run into some characters on your travels – tell usabout some of the most memorable people you have met?

Meeting Professor Erik Cohen was definitely such an occasion. We have
been doing research on lifestyle travellers and he is also interested
in the subject. We went to see him and ended up sharing a wonderful
night together cooking and talking philosophy. He is almost 80 and
beat us in speed walking.

Q. Right now you are in China. What part of the country are you at andwhat is life like there?

We are right now in Guangzhou in the province of Canton in Southern
China. We are staying this week with our American friend from Iowa
whom we met four years ago when we were touring China for the first
time. The country itself is not very tempting because of visas and
pollution, but we came here to meet our friends.

The environment is pretty much spoiled thanks to all products made for
the Western countries. In bigger cities you can’t see the blue sky,
it’s just grey and hazy all year around. Western companies come to
China where it is cheaper to make products. The reason why it is so
much cheaper is because they don’t have to care about labour or
environment. Unfortunately the pollution does not respect the borders
and will eventually spread everywhere just like Fukushima radiation.
It’s pretty short-sighted.

Q. You mention the internet censorship in China – talk about that andhave you witnessed other kind of human rights abuse there?

Four years ago it was possible to find open proxies and web services
allowing access to censored web services. None of them work any more.
The only viable option is to buy a vpn service which is both costly
and technically challenging, because vpn documentation and client
downloads have been blocked, too.

Human rights are rhetoric everywhere in the world, not just in China.
For example freedom of movement has been limited with all kinds of
artificial restrictions and payments. Think about having to obtain a
permit to practise a religion and then pay a fee every 5 years to have
your freedom of religion.

Perhaps the situation is a bit better now, because Google is no more
working in China revealing the emails of dissidents to the government
for persecution.

Q. You are currently doing a study of the nomadic lifestyle and youhave interviewed other people who share this lifestyle with you – giveus a little peak into what you have found out?

We interviewed 30 contemporary nomads (9 Americans) from 17 countries,
who have been travelling the world continuously over 4 years without
permanent residence or work. Many of the travellers wanted to get rid
of the Rat Race and enjoy adventures, idleness, and masterless life.
They are not owned by countries or corporations. They are
professionals of travelling for whom the mobile lifestyle has solved
some of the biggest mysteries in life. The book will be published next
year.

Q. You are both now about 40 years old. After six years on the road,how long do you think you can keep on traveling and will there come apoint when one simply gets too old to do that – in other words, haveyou talked about eventually settling down, and if so, where?

We are both 41 and have been 7 years on the road. This is now our 8th
year. For us, the future does not exist. We are living in this very
moment with only one plan: no plans. Earlier we had the idea of
finding a perfect place and settling down, but then we discovered
there are are too many of them and so many places still to see, so we
kept going.

Q. In the United States the Occupy movement has spread into everymajor city. The Occupy people demonstrate against corporate andcapitalistic greed. Do you feel affinity with the Occupy movement?

We have no sympathy for corporate and capitalist greed, nor for police
states that some of the Western countries represent. In that sense, we
feel affinity and might well stop by to spend a few days in such a
camp.

Q. How often do you visit your family and friends in Finland?

Last time we visited Finland in 2006. Some of our family members and
friends have come to visit us abroad which has worked better for us.
People tend to have more time for us when they are on holiday.

Q. What do you think is the best country in the world?

There are so many of them. Some countries we like a lot include
Brazil, France, and the city of Hong Kong.

Q. And the worst?

In general all countries. It is an absurd idea to divide the small
earth into even smaller pieces of land (countries) that quarrel with
each other and try to build barriers between people instead of uniting
them.

We tend to avoid countries that charge for visas or entry permits
complicating border crossings. Visas are the best way to unwelcome
travellers.

Q. What is the most valuable thing you have learned from your travels?

Less is more. Travels have taught us that we don’t need much, and the
less we have, the happier we are. When we possess something, that
thing starts to possess us and as a consequence, we loose our freedom.

Q. What is your typical day like – I mean, what do you do and howmuch is spent on working?

It depends if we are Couch Surfing or renting a room. With other
people we usually follow their rhytm and habits. When we are alone, we
usually wake up before sunrise, have a morning walk or go jogging,
then write a bit, prepare lunch, go shopping groceries, sometimes
watch a film or play computer games, and go to bed soon after sunset.

Q. What happens if either one of you gets sick?

Santeri does not believe in medicine and if Päivi gets seriously sick,
we travel to a third world country such as Thailand that offers
affordable, high-quality medical services.

Q. Have you been in danger?

We visited Indonesia 2 weeks after the Bali bombings. The island was
empty of tourists and local businessmen were desperate. One evening we
we went to a hotel and agreed the price. In the morning, the business
owner wanted to double the price. We declined his offer and then he
started taking our photos with his camera phone and sending them to
his friends saying that they would come and beat us. Then he showed
his backyard and told that the previous tourists who refused to pay,
had been killed there. We sat down with him smiling and repeated that
we are happy to pay him the agreed sum. After 3 hours, he gave up and
accepted the agreed payment.

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The Finnish beauty queen was crowned Miss Finland in March, 2011, and by September she had abdicated her crown amidst terrible press. “What happened?” we asked Pia as she arrived in America for the very first time.

A year ago nobody knew anything about Pia Pakarinen, a 21-year-old country girl from Juuka, Northern Karelia. Then, last spring, she won the Miss Finland beauty pageant and became an overnight sensation. The beautiful and well-spoken blond bombshell seemed to be everywhere. With great triumph, the Nordic maiden was sent to the Miss Universe contest in São Paulo, Brazil. That’s when things started to go haywire. Reports began appearing in the media that Pia insisted that her entourage be brought along and that she demanded money for interviews. She returned from Brazil empty-handed and was said to be canceling and/or missing gigs that she had previously agreed to do. She then dramatically gives up her Miss Finland title in a live TV-broadcast and denounces the organization behind it. Pia Pakarinen was a persona non grata in Finland. There was only one thing to do: Go Hollywood!

Enter Maria and Paul Kizirian, a couple who work at the Network modeling agency in Los Angeles. The Finnish-born Maria happened to know Wille Wilenius, a friend of Pia’s.

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Long Beach, California, June 29th, 1952. I Love Lucy was a hit show on TV and Harry Truman the president of the United States. An average American worker earned $3,850 a year. A new house cost $9,000 and gas 25 cents a gallon. It was a different era alright. And for one lovely 17-year-old woman from Finland, that day would change everything. She would become the very first Miss Universe ever. That young woman was Armi Kuusela. 60 years later she still turns heads, attracts crowds and glows eternally youthful. 77 years never looked lovelier.

Armi was born in the village of Muhos, which is located in Northern Finland, some 20 miles southeast of Oulu. Her father was Aarne Kuusela and mother Martta Kyrö. Aarne was said to have been extremely handsome and Martta was known to be a vivacious woman. They had met in Ontario, Canada, where their first child was born. Upon returning to Finland, there would be six more – five girls and a boy. One of the girls died as a child. Armi was born August the 20th, 1934, and is the fourth oldest of the children.

After graduating from middle school in Muhos, she continued onto the women’s college in Porvoo where she excelled in sports. She was particularly fond of swimming, skiing and gymnastics. In fact, she planned a career in athletics, intending to apply to the University of Helsinki Gymnastics Institute. However, that was never to be. Armi competed and won the title of Suomen neito (Maiden of Finland), a national beauty pageant on May 24th, 1952. Her prize was a box of chocolates, a gold bangle and a round-trip ticket to the United States, sponsored by Pan Am. That June in Long Beach, California, she participated in the first ever Miss Universe beauty pageant along with 29 other girls from all over the world – and won. Armi was just 17 and her strategic measurements read like Scarlett O’Hara’s from Gone with the Wind: height: 5′ 5″ , weight: 108 pounds, bust: 33.5 inches, waist: 22 inches, and hips: 33.5 inches. She was immortalized in all her glory in a Finnish movie World’s Most beautiful Girl, in which she played herself opposite to the leading man of the Finnish cinema, Tauno Palo.

Next year the reigning Miss Universe took to a whirlwind tour around the world. It turned out to be another life changer for Armi. During her travels she met a dark and handsome Filipino businessman, Virgilio ‘Gil’ Hilario. Armi fell in love head over heels and couldn’t wait to get married. She even gave up her crown three weeks shy of the end of her Miss Universe year, just to tie the knot with the man she loved. They Married in Tokyoin May of 1953. The newlyweds moved to Manila, settling in the quiet suburb of Forbes Park. Their house was on a road known as ‘Millionaire Street’. Armi parlayed her Miss Universe fame in a film shot in the Philippines as well. But now she had another role to play – that of a mother. The couple had five children: three boys and two girls. During those years Armi and Gil would sometimes travel to her native Finland. Another ex-patriot from the same area in Northern Finland, Taimi Mäkikihniä, recalls how Armi and Gil would be exhibited in a train car sitting at a station. People were charged admission to enter the train and walk through the car where the couple was sitting. It sounds bizarre today, but Finns were lining up on the station just to get a peek of the biggest celebrities Finland had ever seen. It seemed that the couple had everything anyone could ask for: fame, fortune and a happy family. But it all came to an abrupt end on the faithful day of September 7th, 1975. Gil Hilario suddenly died of a massive heart attack at the age of 48. Armi was grief-stricken.

There were lonely years after Gil was gone, but Armi had the good fortune to have five loving children around her to cheer her up. By now she was a woman of the world who moved effortlessly and elegantly in high society circles. Two and a half years after Gil’s death, Armi found a new love. She married a tall, slender, handsome (and then bearded) American diplomat Albert Williams on June 8th, 1978. Albert was stationed in Spain at the time, so the couple started their married bliss in beautiful Barcelona. Albert’s next assignment took them to the more exotic Izmir,Turkey. The third largest city of Turkey is an ancient merchant capitol by the eastern Mediterranean and boasts exceptional historical sights, culture and magnificent sea views. Those were exciting years for Armi.

Armi Kuusela Williams and Albert Williams by Tomi Hinkkanen

When Albert retired from the State Department it was time for the couple to settle in his home country, the United States. In 1990 Armi and Albert found a peaceful two story traditional on Waverly Avenue in affluent La Jolla, California. The tall trees and shrubs shield the house from prying eyes. The beach community means ‘the jewel’ in English. It used to be a vacation community for the very wealthy and became known as ‘Beverly Hills South’. Armi settled into a quiet life of a retired socialite, dedicating her time to charitable organizations. She sits in the board of directors of the prestigious Sanford Burnham Medical Institute, a cancer research center. The endless fascination of Armi endured in her native Finland, but the ex-beauty queen grew more and more reclusive, categorically refusing all interviews.

The long self-imposed exile from the lime light ended this summer. Armi Kuusela-Williams surprised everyone by attending the glamorous FinnFest gala dinner and dance on August 12th inSan Diego with her husband Albert. Armi dazzled in a light blue silk gown designed by Jordan. The accessories included a golden purse and the same color shoes and a classic pearl necklace. They had reserved a VIP table for their entourage of 10. Each seat cost $290 and the proceeds went to the FinnFest organization. That same evening Armi was recognized by the City of San Diego as the mayor issued a proclamation that read ‘Armi Kuusela Williams Day’. The audience of 350 heard her first public remarks in years, as she climbed on stage to thank for the honor: “I am so touched by such a tribute. I can only say that I have been lucky in my life in so many ways. It is an honor to celebrate Finland with Finnish and American friends. I am very grateful, Armi said”. Her inner circle was there to celebrate the evening with her: authors, artists, scientists and business people. Business woman Kathryn Kennedy has known Armi and Albert for 15 years. They meet at charitable events, at the opera, concerts and church. She had fond memories of a recent birthday party for Albert at the couple’s house. “It was the most fun I have had in years. Armi served grav lax for dinner, chocolate cake for dessert and throughout the evening she kept pouring us shots of Koskenkorva vodka in crystal tubes, Kathryn recounts. Banker Joy Blount has known the couple for ten years. She met them soon after relocating from San Francisco to San Diego. “We are all deeply involved in philanthropic activities, go to the opera, symphony concerts, talk about the politics and our families, Joy describes.

Armi likes to entertain her closest friends in the couple’s Spanish style two storey house decorated with antique furniture and decorative items they have collected from their travels around the world. The dining room table seats comfortably 12 people. Guests are pampered with Finnish foods prepared by the couple’s private cook. Armi is an avid reader and loves nothing better than to curl up with a good book. Both Armi and Albert spend a great deal of time traveling to see her five children and five grandchildren who live in the United States, Canada, Chile, the Philippines and Spain.

The FinnFest gala ends with American standards performed by pianist Lenni-Kalle Taipale and singer Sami Pitkämö, who had flown especially for the event from Finland. We now know that Albert William’s favourite tune is ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’, for when it started to play, he asked his wife Armi of 33 years to dance with him and planted a tender kiss on her lips.